Radiant-Floor Study Sparks Controversy

Preliminary data from an ongoing study comparing the
performance of radiant-floor heat to hot-air heat has generated
plenty of heat from radiant-floor advocates but so far has shed
relatively little light on its intended subject. The study in
question, undertaken by the NAHB Research Center for the
Partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing (PATH),
involves a two-story, 1,344-square-foot house built by Habitat
for Humanity in Schenectady, N.Y. The house includes
independent gas-fired hydronic and hot-air heating systems,
which were used alternately for two-week periods during the
winter of 2001-02. Throughout the heating season, the
researchers collected data on floor and room-air temperature as
well as gas and electrical consumption.

Although a final report has not yet been issued, a preliminary
report posted on the NAHB website contained surprising numbers:
When the data was adjusted to compensate for variations in
outdoor temperature, the tube-and-plate staple-up radiant
system was found to have used 22% more fuel per heating
degree-day than the hot-air system connected to conventional
sheet-metal ducts.

Not exactly what we had in
mind. That came as a shock to radiant-heat advocates,
who have long maintained that radiant is both more comfortable
and more energy efficient than forced air. Despite a shortage
of hard evidence to back up either claim, the radiant community
has always been confident that the data needed to confirm its
view would eventually emerge.

In October of 2001, for example, the Radiant Panel Association
(RPA) newsletter, Radiant Panel
Report, appealed to readers who might be able to provide
data that could be used as "the supporting evidence needed to
show the world that radiant heating is, in fact, the winning
heat distribution system." Not surprisingly, the RPA was quick
to take issue with the Schenectady study. In a letter to the
NAHBRC dated December 10, 2002, RPA technical director John
Fantauzzi outlined several objections with the way the parallel
heating systems had been designed and operated:

* Although the preliminary report noted that the radiant
system made use of two zones, it was not made clear whether the
hot-air system was zoned as well. The zoned radiant system
might have caused short-cycling of the boiler when only one
zone was calling for heat, resulting in reduced fuel efficiency
relative to the possibly single-zone hot-air system.

* If the same thermostat was used to control both systems and
anticipator settings were not adjusted for each, the radiant
system might have had a tendency to overshoot the thermostat
setpoint.

* When the systems were switched from radiant to forced air,
the forced-air system would have benefited from the gradual
release of heat stored in the OSB subfloor. At the transition
back to radiant, the radiant system would have had to use
additional energy to bring the floor system back up to
operating temperature.

Fantauzzi is also critical of what he feels is an overall
negative tone to the report. "The authors seem to have a
predisposition against radiant," he says, and expresses
frustration that the preliminary version of the report was made
public. "The conclusions in the final report may be very
different," he says, "but a lot of people are only going to
remember hearing that 'radiant heat is 22% less efficient than
hot air.'"

NAHBRC
spokesperson Margo Thompson concedes that it might have been
better to delay releasing the report until it had reached its
final form, but she denies any anti-radiant bias. "We're
carefully going through the data and looking for possible
problems," she says.

One particular area the NAHBRC will be examining has to do
with the efficiencies of the two heating plants: The
sealed-combustion boiler used with the radiant system has an
86% AFUE rating, while the hot-air furnace -- also
sealed-combustion -- has a 90% rating. The researchers also
have yet to determine whether both systems actually performed
at their rated efficiencies for the duration of last winter's
test.

"We're checking the calibration of flow meters and checking
actual operating efficiencies now," Thompson says. "If they
weren't performing close to their rated efficiencies, we want
to know why not."

The NAHBRC hopes to release the complete study by late this
winter. Meanwhile, it will be conducting a similar test in a
house in Idaho.

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Builder Not Liable for Nasty Neighbor

If a builder sells a new home without telling the buyer
about an angry, abusive next-door neighbor, can he or she be
held legally accountable for the buyer's resulting emotional
distress? In a precedent-setting decision, a New Jersey appeals
court recently concluded that such problems are not the
builder's responsibility.

The decision concerned events dating back to June of 1994,
when Marlboro, N.J., residents Mark and Linda Levine moved into
a new house in a development called Charter Club at the
Hampton. On the day they moved in, their new next-door
neighbor, a 48-year-old stockbroker named Richard Sofo, greeted
them by delivering two envelopes. The first contained copies of
a series of furious letters he had written to the builder and
town officials protesting the construction of the Levines' new
house -- which Sofo described as a "monolithic abomination" --
while the second contained an abusive, obscenity-laced
five-page letter addressed to the Levines themselves. Referring
to the Levines as "loathsome creatures" and "lowly scum,"
Sofo's letter stated, "You people have fired an eternal flame
of contempt that has burned within me throughout all of these
months. Now that you have arrived, I want you to understand
right out of the starting-gate, in plain English, that I hate
you, and your whole family...."

Sofo continued to send abusive letters, prompting the Levines
to file a harassment complaint against him. He was eventually
convicted of four counts of harassment and ordered to stop
contacting the Levines. He left the area in 1998.

The Levines then filed a civil suit against the builder, the
developer, and the development, claiming that they should have
been told about their neighbor's history of troubling
behavior.

The court, however, failed to accept the Levines' argument.
Although a 1995 decision by the state supreme court found that
builders and developers do have a duty to advise builders of
off-site conditions that could affect property values, such as
the existence of a nearby landfill, the appeals court concluded
that an irate neighbor is not an off-site condition. "Sofo
falls under the category of a social condition, which [the
builders] were under no duty to disclose," the decision
stated.

The builder's lawyer, West Orange attorney Andrew Epstein,
summarized the case briefly for the Newark Star-Ledger:
"Builders are experts in building, not human behavior," he
said.

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Asphalt Fumes Not Harmful, Study Finds

Although radiant-floor advocates have warned
for years that asphalt felt under hardwood flooring heated by
radiant coils can cause a faint but persistent asphalt odor
that some have speculated could have possible health effects,
two recent studies of industrial asphalt-fume exposure would
seem to lay that speculation to rest.

The studies, conducted by Owens Corning and reported on in the
November 2002 issue of Professional Roofing, examined
the incidence of illness and death from nonmalignant
respiratory disease (NMRD) among workers at its asphalt and
asphalt-shingle manufacturing plants between 1977 and 1999.
After comparing workers' health histories to their work
histories and known fume levels in the workplace, the studies
concluded that cigarette smoking was the strongest predictor of
death in workers, increasing the risk of NMRD by nearly seven
times and lung cancer by ten times. Neither study found a
significant effect on worker health that could be attributed to
asphalt-fume exposure.

The findings are significant because asphalt-fume exposures in
the Owens Corning plants were relatively high through the early
1980s compared to other studies. If asphalt fumes were harmful,
it would likely have been evident among the Owens Corning
workers. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC)
is expected to consider the studies in the next few years as it
reevaluates asphalt's safety classification; it is now termed a
Group E agent, "not classifiable as to its carcinogenicity" in
humans.

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High-Tech Pigments Broaden Cool-Roof Palette

Reflective roofing can block out solar heat gain and cut
cooling costs in hot, sunny climates, but most homeowners
aren't drawn to the idea of blinding white roofs on their
houses. Now they have another option, thanks to a new
generation of pigments with "selective" absorption and
reflection characteristics. The new coloring agents reflect
almost all of the sun's invisible infrared energy, which is
about half the energy in sunlight. But each color reflects and
absorbs a different set of wavelengths in the visible spectrum,
giving the material a unique visible color while still
rejecting between 25% and 65% of the sun's total energy.

The recently developed reflective finish
on these aluminum shingles comes in a wide selection of
standard and custom colors.

Ohio's Ferro Corporation introduced a line of selective
pigments in 1999. Ken Loye, a technical manager for Ferro, says
the colors have found their way into a wide range of products,
including exterior coatings produced by Life Paint, Textured
Coatings of America, and UltraKote. "Almost all the
dark-colored vinyl sidings have it," says Loye. "We get a lot
of orders for the black pigments for window extrusions."

Ferro colors range from a bright pastel yellow that reflects
65% of the sun's energy, through various greens, reds, and
blues, down to deep browns that still reflect around 25% --
enough to qualify for Energy Star status. The Energy Star
standard was set low enough to let all-white asphalt shingles
pass, and roofing coated brown or black with a Ferro pigment
rejects as much energy as a "white" asphalt shingle roof.

At least two roofing makers are now offering Ferro colors:
MCA Tile and
Classic
Products. Classic Products' Joe Knife says, "As inventory
turns over, we're working it into all our products. Our roofing
is already perceived as environmentally friendly, and this way
all our products can get into the Energy Star program."

Remodeler Les Deal has been using Classic aluminum shingles
for 13 years, mostly for reroofs and often over existing
asphalt shingles. He says the Classic shingles are extremely
durable: "I like them because they can't rust. Hail up to golf
ball size that would decimate an asphalt roof barely makes a
dent in them. I've been back to look at my earliest roofs, and
I can't see that they have aged at all." Classic shingles carry
a lifetime warranty for the original owner and a 50-year
transferable warranty.

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Texas Community Limits Small Homes

Despite a sluggish national economy and a slowdown in
luxury-home sales that has many builders thinking small, one
Texas municipality has passed an ordinance that will require
local builders to think a little bigger. In November, the city
of Arlington adopted a new housing standards ordinance that
increases the minimum size of new single-family homes from
1,000 to 1,500 square feet of living space. According to city
council members, the new law is designed to attract larger
homes, which are expected to generate more tax dollars.
Officials said that about 35% of the existing houses in the
Fort Worth suburb have less than 1,500 square feet of living
space, which some believe do not generate enough revenue to pay
for their share of police and other municipal services. "I
think we've raised the bar and come in line with what other
cities require," city council member Sheri Capehart told the
Dallas Morning News. "What this will do is level the
playing field."

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Hawaiian Code Officials Develop Rules for Grass Huts

Traditional Hawaiian grass huts,
once the predominant type of housing in the islands, could be
due for a resurgence under the terms of a proposed code change
now being considered on Maui. For years, the grass huts, known
as hale, have existed in a sort of legal twilight zone. To the
frustration of professional hale builders, constructing one
legally required working through a time-consuming "alternative
styles" section of the building code. "I found that offensive,"
native Hawaiian master builder Francis Sinenci told the
Honolulu Advertiser. "This is Hawaii. It is not an
alternative style. It is the style."

The new hale-friendly code drawn up by a Maui County advisory
committee would allow the construction of four different kinds
of Hawaiian grass huts using material mainly grown on the
islands. It is the first such proposal in the state and could
set a pattern for builders of traditional structures elsewhere.
Hale would be permitted anywhere on Maui, subject to lot size
and setback requirements.

In line with the traditional nature of the structures, wiring
would not be permitted nor would standard plumbing. However,
the new code would require builders to install sprinkler
systems in grass huts that are larger than 30 by 60 feet or
located within 100 feet of other dwellings.

The proposed rules also formalize the use of some
nontraditional building materials, including nylon cord for
lashings, and the use of some woods -- including ironwood,
eucalyptus, strawberry guava, and keawe -- that are now common
in the islands but didn't exist before the arrival of Europeans
in the 18th century. According to Maui County Codes
administrator Ralph Nagamine, the county will be seeking
$23,000 from the state legislature to conduct strength tests of
the alternative woods.

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Offcuts

A Vermont man faces a heavy fine and possible jail time
for illegal asbestos removal. Edward Carroll of Ludlow,
Vt., was arrested in October of 2002 and charged with violating
the Clean Air Act for partially demolishing an old mill
building in Plainfield, Conn., that he knew contained asbestos.
Carroll allegedly failed to remove all asbestos-containing
roofing material and improperly bagged and handled material
that was removed. If convicted, he faces up to five years in
prison and/or a $250,000 fine for each count of a six-count
indictment.

The ongoing debate over urban sprawl may have a bright
side, according to Fannie Mae chief economist David Berson.
Speaking to an audience of builders at the American Housing
Conference in Chicago last October, Berson noted that although
community opposition makes it more difficult to build new
residential developments today, that opposition also tends to
support high prices by holding down the inventory of houses for
sale.

Massachusetts may ease its septic-system requirements
by replacing the current 30-minutes-per-inch percolation
standard with a more generous 60-minutes-per-inch standard,
according to the Boston Globe. Supporters of the change
say that it would bring the Bay State in line with prevailing
national standards (Massachusetts is one of only two states
with such a restrictive standard), while critics maintain that
it will open thousands of acres to development and worsen urban
sprawl.

Greenpeace cofounder Patrick Moore is publicly calling for
North Americans to use more wood, which he describes as a
more environmentally sound choice than materials such as steel,
concrete, and plastic. Moore's remarks have been widely
publicized by the Wood Information Bureau, which has managed
the popular "Be Constructive" pro-wood media campaign. Moore's
former colleagues, however, are unconvinced: A Greenpeace
forest campaigner stated that Moore, who is now a spokesperson
for the British Columbia timber industry, "has gone from being
the guard dog of the environment to the lap dog of
industry."

Augusta, Georgia, has endorsed a proposal for vehicle
stickers that would make it easier for city inspectors to
see who legally belongs on a construction site, according to
the Augusta Chronicle. Although Georgia is one of a
handful of states that does not specifically license builders,
the proposal would require both general contractors and subs to
display the $1 decals on their work vehicles. Only employers
with county business licenses -- which require proof of
liability insurance and bonding -- would be able to buy the
decals.

New Jersey voters are willing to pay for open space.
The Newark Star-Ledger reports that in last November's
election, 25 of 31 local initiatives to raise money for land
conservation met with voter approval. That continuing trend has
caused concern among builders, who fear that the state's
purchases of open land -- which have totaled 260,000 acres in
the past four years -- will drive up land costs and price
potential buyers out of the housing market.

The Steel Framing Alliance has launched a new quarterly
journal. The new periodical, Framework, A Journal of the
Steel Framing Alliance, will contain information on
equipment, framing systems, fasteners, connectors, and other
areas of interest to steel framers. For subscription
information, contact the Alliance at 202/785-2022 or at its
website, www.steelframingalliance.com.